Shackle Bolts

[carnolddsm]

Discovered something that doesn't look right while greasing the wet bolts.

Some of the bolts appear to be too long or missing a washer. The nut is bottoming out on the shoulder of the bolt, and is not pulling the shackle plate the spring eye. There is about an 1/8 inch play side to side. Is this normal?

[K&I337RLS]

I have seen this on cars & trucks. The nut bottoms out so it isn't over tightened crushing & wearing the rubber in the spring eye.

[K&I337RLS]

are they all the same or just some missing the washer?

[cb1000rider]

I think there are two different bolt lengths in these setups.. I wonder if someone put one in the wrong place.

[TucsonJim]

The shackles need to move freely. There should be play between the spring eye and the nut. The nut actually seats against the shoulder on the bolt, not the shackle. If you clamped everything down to the required 35-50 lb-ft of torque, you would restrict the movement of the shackles. When I removed the nuts from my suspension, they were self locking nuts so they didn't back off. There were no washers installed.